Author Tom Sileo tells the inspiring story of the late Michael Ollis, one of thousands of young men who followed their fathers into the military. On August 28, 2013, Ollis, Staten Island native and 10th mountain soldier, was serving at Forward Operating Base Ghazni, a joint force partner mission with the Polish military. During a sneak attack, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest and Sgt. Ollis threw himself in front of Polish comrade, Karol Cierpica, whom he’d only met and fought side-by-side with minutes earlier. His selfless action saved the life of Cierpica and many others.

Celebrated to this day in the U.S. and especially his hometown of Staten Island, Ollis was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (the highest honor in the U.S. Army) and–perhaps even more remarkably–was honored by the Polish military as well, and is considered a hero in that country as well. Ollis’s family later met and embraced Cierpica (the man he saved) as family, and Cierpica named his son after Michael. 

In his book, “I Have Your Back,” military author and expert on the Global War on Terror, Sileo honors one of America’s more recent heroes.

Heroes Behind Headlines
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